Harvest Moon (11 page)

For a moment, his kisses stopped and she wondered if
he was starting to have second thoughts, but she saw him fish his wallet out of
his back pocket, and from there, he removed a single foil packet before he
discarded his wallet on the floor.

With the silver wrapper waiting on the bed, Jase
shimmied backwards until his feet were on the floor. His eyes caught hers, and
there was a devilish glint to be found in them while his fingers moved to the
button on his jeans.

With wide eyes, Dawn watched as he began to slowly unbutton
his jeans. The only sounds she heard were that of his zipper and her own breath
in her throat while her heart beat faster and faster. She wanted him so badly,
but he was taking his time in teasing her until she leaned up and lowered his
zipper for him.

“Now,” she moaned as she gazed up at him. Need was
consuming her, and she couldn’t wait any longer. Mercifully, Jase ended his
torment and lowered his jeans and boxers in one swift move.

Once freed, Jase’s cock was stiff and exposed for Dawn
to see. It was larger than she expected, and giddiness coursed through her as
Jase crawled over her, easily pushing her back down as he went. She only had to
wait a moment longer for him to slip on the condom, but it felt like an
eternity.

Finally, graciously, Jase pressed the tip of his cock
to her waiting sex. Dawn had never known she could want a man so badly, and her
body completely gave in to her desires. With her legs spread, she accepted him
readily as he entered her in one smooth thrust.

“Oh,” she managed to moan as he buried himself to the
hilt inside of her. He was thicker than she realized, and her body stretched to
adapt to him, but his girth was wonderfully filling.

“I’ve wanted this so badly,” he moaned into her ear as
his hips began to move in a rhythmic dance. “Ever since that moment in the
street, I’ve wanted you.”

Somewhere deep inside, Dawn knew that feeling was
completely mutual. It was how he looked at her, how he moved, everything about
him seemed to fit her perfectly, and now that she had him, she never wanted to
let go.

He might have been stronger than her, but she easily
rolled him onto his back while they made love. She wanted to claim him as her
own, and she wanted to feel him deeply inside her. She wanted to ride him like
a stallion, and he was in no position to protest.

On top of him, it was easy for Dawn to control her own
pleasure. Bliss filled her body as Jase’s hands found her breasts and massaged
them gently.

His every touch seemed to fall exactly where she
needed it to, and when his fingers found their way between her legs, there was
nothing she could do but give in. Expertly, he stroked at the pearl of pleasure
that was hidden there until he had Dawn writhing in pleasure above him.

When her orgasm came, it was unlike anything she had ever
felt before. Stars exploded behind her eyelids and her body quivered around
his. She tried to hold on to the feeling as long as possible, but as it faded,
it was Jase’s turn to find his pleasure.

He hadn’t been far behind her in his release, and in
her post-orgasmic state, it was easy for him to toss her back on to the bed and
take her anew. He was gentle with her raw and pleasure-wracked body as he found
his own orgasm deep inside her.

“Wow,” Dawn managed to moan as Jase lifted himself off
her. “Just... wow.”

“I know,” Jase said as he pulled her into his arms.

He said something else then, but between the
adrenaline crash, her lack of sleep, and the all-consuming pleasure she’d just
experienced, Dawn didn’t hear it. Sleep was what had claimed her then, and she
didn’t have it in her to fight it any longer.

It wasn’t chainsaws or the calls of songbirds that
roused Dawn from her deep slumber, but rather the sound of trucks as they
rumbled through town. Country music blared through their open windows and
excited hollers flowed with the twangs of the songs.

Dawn lifted her arms over her head and stretched
slowly. Her body was the most wonderful kind of sore, a tenderness that only came
from passion and lust. It was a feeling she’d gone without for a long time, and
she let herself sink into it before she turned to gaze upon the man she’d
shared her bed with.

But when she rolled over, he was gone. She was alone,
and though she’d wanted to curl up into his arms again, she only shrugged.

The last time he’d stayed over, as platonic as that
had been, he had gotten up long before her and brewed coffee for the both of
them. It was a sweet gesture that Dawn couldn’t deny looking forward to sharing
again.

Let’s hope this time he doesn’t need to take off in
the middle of it,
she thought as she pulled herself out of bed.

From the floor, she grabbed and old t-shirt and pulled
it on to cover her nakedness, and then from the top drawer of her dresser, she
found a pair of cotton panties. The morning was too chilly for so little
clothing, but she hoped that Jase would have it in him to warm her up again.

“Morning,” she yawned as she left her bedroom, but
when she opened her eyes, she found herself alone. The coffee maker was off,
the door was closed, and there was no sign of Jase Byrnes to be found.

“What the hell?” she said to herself as she shivered.
It really was much too cold to go without pants, and before she went searching
for a note he had to have surely left, she went back into her bedroom and
pulled on an old pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. The ancient furnace in her
house was terrible at best, and she made a mental note to stock up on some
firewood for the woodstove before she returned to the living room.

The note she was expecting was nowhere to be found.
There wasn’t a single speck of evidence to prove Jase had even been there the
night before. The only thing keeping Dawn from thinking she’d dreamed the whole
thing was the delicate soreness between her legs.

“Asshole,” she mumbled to herself. And then, “Idiot.”

She’d been a fool for taking him into her bed so
quickly. Her fear, her adrenaline, and the whiskey had played a big part in all
of what had gone on between them, and she’d been naïve to let him get so close
to her.

A deep sense of regret pooled in the pit of her
stomach as she moved to turn on her coffee maker. Her disappointment and unease
were doing wonders to kill her appetite, but she was moving out of habit as she
pulled the bag of bagels out of the fridge and popped one in the toaster.

At least he isn’t really FBI
, she thought as
she poured the coffee grinds into the filter. Despite him lying to her about
who he was, she couldn’t bring herself to be mad about that. If anything, she
was relieved. Jase had his own secrets, and if he really was hunting werewolves
of monsters or whatever he’d claimed, at least he wasn’t there to hunt her.

The memory of what she’d seen the night before made
her shudder hard enough to reawaken the ache in her muscles. Her body hurt
worse where she’d broken her fall, but she could only focus on the ache she
enjoyed, even if she was regretting it.

“It can’t really be real, can it?” she asked aloud as
she watched the coffee begin to drip. Werewolves, monsters, and all the other
things she’d heard about in stories and watched in movies, they couldn’t exist.

Yet she’d seen it with her own eyes. Even when she
tried to explain it away with reason and rationality, there was no mistaking
what she’d seen. In front of her very eyes, she’d seen a man become a wolf.

Even then, with fear crippling her, she was able to
tell it wasn’t just an ordinary wolf. She’d gone to the zoo enough as a kid to
know what wolves looked like, what they ran like. Even dogs moved nearly the
same, but this creature hadn’t. There was something bulkier about the wolf that
had chased her down and almost killed her. It ran almost like a gorilla, with
its muscular forearms pumping as it moved. And it was bigger than a wolf. So
much bigger.

Jase wasn’t lying. The creature was a werewolf, and it
had tried to kill her.

Another memory came back to her as her bagel popped
out of the toaster.
I should have told him about the scratches by the
dumpster,
she realized as she began to butter her breakfast.

It was too late now. Sure, she had his card and could
call him, but she wasn’t exactly sure she should. He’d left for a reason, and
if she called him, it might only make things worse.

But she wanted to talk to him. Despite the fear, the
regret, and her uncertainty, she wanted to see him, to have him hold her again.
She hadn’t felt so safe since before her dad died, and she never wanted to let
that go.

Just as she moved to take a bite of her bagel, the
rotary phone rang and startled her so hard she dropped the first half of her
bagel on the counter.

Her lost breakfast was of no concern. She leapt for
the phone and answered it. “Jase?”

“Sorry?” Jim’s voice answered back. “Dawnie, is that
you?”

“Jim,” she sighed. “Sorry, what’s up?”

“I know it was a late night,” he said, his voice tired
and ragged. “But we’re slammed here. Those hunters are back for an early lunch,
and I need you. Now.”

“I’ll be right there,” she said before she hung up.

There was no time for her coffee, and there certainly
was no time for a shower. She couldn’t leave Jim hanging any longer than
absolutely necessary. She went to her room to get changed.

Laundry had been low on her priority list lately, and
she pulled on the same pair of jeans she’d worn the last three days. They were
a little scraped on the knees, but no one at Jim’s would notice.

The scrapes running down her left arm, however, were
definitely noticeable. She knew it would be hot racing around Jim’s in long
sleeves, but she had no choice. She grabbed a plaid shirt she’d found at Goodwill
and buttoned it over a plain white tank top before she threw her hair into a
ponytail and grabbed the surviving half of her bagel to eat on the walk to
Jim’s.

Her old plaid jacket was barely enough to block out
the cold as she walked toward the bar, but it would be enough for today. As she
walked and ate, she found herself relieved to see people on the streets of
Goosemont again. The hunters coming into town seemed to have worked some magic,
because even though they hadn’t killed a thing yet, people seemed to feel safer
with them there.

Do they even know what they’re up against?
she
wondered. Jase knew. Jase had almost killed it. If it weren’t for her stopping
him from chasing after it, he might have actually done finished the job.
Instead, the monster was still on the loose, but at least it was wounded.

The bar really was packed when she walked in. Jim’s
eyes were red enough to match his cheeks, and he looked about ready to crash,
but Dawn was glad for the insanity. Her mind was so cluttered that being too
busy to think was the one thing she really needed, and she dove headfirst into
the fray.

Even the FBI agents, the real ones, were there for
lunch. Maybe with so many armed men flooding the town they’d decided to keep an
eye on things, but Dawn wasn’t in the mood to ask. Just thinking about Jase
made her heart ache, so she avoided their table as much as possible.

“They’re already hammered,” Jim sighed as Dawn took
refuge behind the bar with him. “Do they really expect to shoot anything but
each other while they’re drunk?”

“Hopefully not,” Dawn said as she watched the crowd.
“I’m sure they’ll sober up enough before they go looking for the bear though. I
mean, won’t they be better off hunting at night?”

“Probably,” Jim nodded. “Last thing this town needs is
more bodies.”

With their beers and lunches finished, the hunters
began to pack up. Dawn hoped she was right in that they would sober up enough
before they went out into the woods with their guns cocked, but she couldn’t be
too sure. For once, though, she was glad for the FBI agents.

As the hunters started to leave, so did the feds. They
were
keeping an eye on the drunks. They had to be.

It was when the bar started to really empty out that
the door opened and a new patron entered. A familiar face sat down at one of
the yet-to-be-cleaned tables, and Dawn took a deep breath before she went to go
serve him.

“Afternoon, Mr. Mosley,” she said as she began to wipe
down the table.

“Please,” he said with a warm smile, “call me Gavin.”

Dawn still couldn’t bring herself to trust him, but
the troubled look on his face gave her reason to pause as she brought him a
menu. Between that and the white bandage poking out of the bottom of his
t-shirt, she couldn’t stop herself from asking, “Is everything okay?”

“Yes,” he said, but then he ran his hand through his
dark hair and changed his answer. “No, not really.”

“Hurt you shoulder?” she asked. She remembered reading
that a torn shoulder muscle had ended his major league career, and if he’d hurt
it even more, it would explain his gloomy appearance.

“This?” he said as he pulled up the sleeve of his
t-shirt to show off the white wrapping that went all the way from his bicep to
the top of his arm. “Yeah, I was chopping some wood to blow off steam.
Aggravated the old injury. Wrapped it up, but it’s still tender.”

“Is it going to be okay?” Dawn asked, surprised by her
own concern.

“Probably not,” he said with a weak smile. “But not
from the wood cutting. Even with surgery, my docs couldn’t guarantee full
healing, so I’m kind of stuck with a bum shoulder for the long haul, but...”

“But what?” Dawn asked as she sat down at his table.

“An injury, well, that I can deal with,” Gavin said.
“It’s in the cards for a guy like me. That’s fine. It’s just… an FBI agent came
sniffing around my place again this morning, asking me all sorts of questions,
poking around my yard. Why can’t they just believe I had nothing to do with
this?”

Jase
, Dawn realized as she listened to Gavin.
The other two FBI agents, well, the only two real FBI agents, had spent most of
their day so far at Jim’s. The only one left was Jase.

“I hate myself enough for what happened,” Gavin said.
“But they keep hounding me. What if they give up finding out what happened and
plant something on my property?”

“They wouldn’t do that,” Dawn said, trying to be
reassuring.

“Why not?” Gavin asked.

What she wanted to tell him was that the FBI agents
didn’t suspect him and that Jase wouldn’t do something like that, but could she
actually promise him that? Just because he’d told her his name and spent the
night in her bed didn’t mean she really knew the man, and she had to remember
that.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I just can’t imagine
they’d do something and risk being wrong, you know?”

“What if someone else turns up missing?” Gavin said.
“Am I going to be a suspect all over again? With all these hunters in town,
you’d think they’d get it through their heads that it was an animal, not a
person.”

Dawn almost opened her mouth to tell him what she’d seen
the night before, but she stopped herself. She barely believed what she’d seen
with her own eyes, and part of her still thought it was just a flight of fancy.
Going around telling people she’d seen a werewolf was a recipe for not only
being seen as a crazy person, but it’d goad the FBI agents into having a
serious talk with her. It was best to keep her lips sealed.

“They’ll kill it,” she said. “I’m sure someone will
bring it down. There are enough of them out there looking for it.”

“God, I’m being so selfish,” Gavin said as his fingers
fiddled with the corners of the menu. “How are you holding up? I don’t want to
assume, but… well, you know.”

“Yeah,” Dawn murmured. She didn’t know what it was.
Only a day ago, she had hated the man, but talking to him now and seeing the
anguish on his face was making her start to warm up to him. He seemed so beat
up by everything that happened that she was starting to realize he was just as
much a victim as anyone else in town. It was bad timing and poor judgement that
led him there, not murder. Yet a voice inside her, one that was growing smaller
and smaller, begged her not to trust him.

“It’s rough,” she said. “I’m doing what I can to keep
myself busy. I haven’t taken a day off in over a week, and thankfully now that
it’s busy, I have enough to do so that my mind doesn’t have time to think.
Every time I slow down, it all comes flooding back.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, his chin
resting on his hand.

“No,” Dawn said. “I want to shut my brain off.”

“I can understand that,” he said. “Anything I can do
to help?”

“I don’t know...” Dawn thought on it. “Maybe if you
told me about baseball, or anything else, really. Just to drown out my own
thoughts.”

Gavin’s eyes lit up when she mentioned the word
“baseball.” Even retired, he must have still loved the game, and Dawn was
surprised at how interested she actually was in hearing about Gavin’s
experiences playing in the major leagues.

“Well, there’s nothing like playing at the home
stadium,” he said as his brown eyes met hers. “The crowd is electric when
you’re playing well, and the last thing you want is to let them down.”

“Sorry,” she said, stopping him. “Who did you play
for?”

“I’m hurt!” Gavin said with a soft laugh. “Kidding. I
played for the Marlins. I was actually in some trade talks when I had my
injury. The Yankees had been sniffing around, and any player who denies
dreaming of being a Yankee is lying through their teeth.”